John Constantine
John Constantine is a British magician who travels the world investigating supernatural occurrences. Biography Early Life At some point, Constantine was involved in an incident in Newcastle where his actions resulted in tragedy. Constantine claims to have gone insane at one time. He trained Zatanna in magic annd apparently introduced her to his friend Ritchie. The pair eventually became romantically involved, living and traveling together in the House of Mystery. At one point they went to Somalia where Zatanna insisted they rescue some monkeys; the details of the event aren't discussed, but the pair's conversation implies it didn't go well. The relationship however ended poorly, as Zatanna felt unsuited to the danger and moral complexity of John's world. Likewise, Constantine had a falling out with Ritchie. It is not known what the cause was, but the pair stopped speaking. John didn't even know Ritchie was dying until he asked for the other man's help with the Justice League Dark's investigation. At one point, Constantine met and became an enemy of Felix Faust. Recently, he played poker with Jason Blood and The Demons Three. Constantine wagered his home, the House of Mystery, against a collection of mystic treasures. Both John and the Demons cheated, though Constantine won. In the ensuing battle, Constantine forced Jason to transform into Etrigan to defeat the Demons. Blood was displeased when he was restored, lecturing Constantine and punching him when at the magician's lack of concern. Magic Threat When Zatanna brings Batman to Constantine, they were attacked by a magical whirlwind summoned by an unknown sorcerer. The trio narrowly manage to get inside John's house in time where they are joined by Black Orchid, the spiritual embodiment of the House. The group gathers to share information, and after a quick discussion and some argument between John and Zatanna, form a team to investigate the cause and reason for these supernatural occurrences. Zatanna brings Batman to Constantine, but they are attacked by a magical whirlwind summoned by an unknown sorcerer. The trio narrowly manage to get inside John's house in time where they are joined by Black Orchid, the spiritual embodiment of the House. The group gathers to share information, and after a quick discussion and some argument between John and Zatanna, form a team to investigate the cause and reason for these supernatural occurrences. The heroes visits a friend of Constantine and Zatanna's named Ritchie Simpson, but outside the house they find shroud spirits of Death waiting to collect Ritchie's soul upon his upcoming demise. The team is granted entry by Simpson, who is suffering from a magical cancer and resentful of Constantine for abandoning him to his fate, but loans them the Keshanti Key. Constantine and Zatanna look through one of the unwitting rampager's memories for the cause of his frenzy, and discover that he was possessed by an unknown entity wearing a strange ring. Batman, Deadman, Constantine, and Zatanna narrowly manage to escape from a living feces beast conjured to consume the man, and Zatanna proceeds to destroy the monster. Returning to Ritchie's home to identify the ring from the man's memory, the team finds him about to die, with Blood nearby. Batman revives Ritchie with an adrenaline shot to the chest, but he quickly falls into a coma. After being brought to the House of Mystery for interrogation, Blood tells the team that he did not attempt to hurt Ritchie, but was looking for a way into the House of Mystery to find the Dreamstone. He reveals his past and Destiny. The group locate Faust's observatory with help from Swamp Thing. When they infiltrate Faust's lair, the wizard battles the team, but is ultimately defeated by Zatanna. During the battle with Destiny, Constantine summons Swamp Thing and tricks him to fight Destiny while Batman and the recovered Zatanna disable the Justice League. However, Destiny defeats Swamp Thing by ripping Alec Holland's remains from his body. Constantine tricks Destiny into bringing him and Deadman within his protective shield, allowing Deadman to wound Destiny, before Constantine, Batman, and Blood destroy the Dreamstone and Destiny's body, leaving Ritchie, whose soul is dragged to Hell by the shroud spirits. Zatanna, Constantine, and Etrigan bury Blood's body near the place of his old village, before Etrigan leaves for parts unknown. Zatanna offers Constantine a position in Justice League when she joined it. Constantine initially declines claiming Batman wouldn't approve of him, but Zatanna claims it was his idea. The two return to the now-rebuilt House of Mystery, taking a first tentative step to restoring their fractured relationship. Personality Constantine is not considered a superhero in the traditional sense, and seems to hold a dim view of "the capes and tights crew," at least in regards to their ability to handle magical situations. However, Constantine seems to have a lower success rate than the League, as Zatanna claims he is guilty of "a hundred . . . screw-ups. Costing lives and souls." Despite being firmly on the side of Good, Constantine is often blunt and disrespectful even when his life is in danger. He often employs risky strategies and is perfectly willing to manipulate his friends to achieve his goals and is flippant when called upon to defend his actions. Because of this, he frequently ruins his own relationships. He is capable of loyalty and comradery, such as when he talked Zatanna out of killing Felix Faust and arranged Jason Blood to be buried in the place the knight's home village once stood, however, he will still sacrifice his friends without hesitation, as he allowed Ritchie's soul to be taken to Hell despite his obvious remorse. Zatanna implied that Constantine is something of a womanizer. Powers and Abilities Magic: '''Constantine is a talented magician, capable of casting a wide variety of spells for attack, defense, surveillance, or transportation. He can hurl fireballs, levitate, exorcise spiritual entities, undo illusions, restrain others, view events happening far away, even compel others to do his bidding. He occasionally supplements his own abilities with magical artifacts. However, his powers seem inferior to those of other magic-users, such as Faust and Zatanna. Many of his spells involve fire. '''Clairvoyance: Constantine can percieve spirits invisible to the human eye. Mystical Knowledge: Constantine possesses advanced knowledge of the nature and workings of supernatural forces and artifacts. Master Manipulator: Even without magic, Constantine is very good at getting his allies and enemies to do as he wishes. Leadership: Despite his claims otherwise, Constantine is a gifted leader and strategist. Immunity to Forced Insanity: '''When facing off with Destiny, Constantine remained unaffected by his magic, which drove even Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman mad with visions of demons. '''Resistance to Possession: When allowing Deadman to possess him in a Trojan Horse play to kill Destiny, Constantine was able to retain control of his body. Trivia * He's implied to have his life/soul sought after by many he's wronged/ticked off. * According to Jay Oliva, though Constantine possesses an affinity for magic, he requires a medium to cast spells; because of such, John's magic is neither good or evil. ** Throughout Justice League Dark, Constantine is shown using various objects to cast spells. Jay even referred to Constantine as a magical version of Batman. * Constantine's comment about having been "mad" is a reference to the Comics, where he checked himself into an asylum as a result of The Newcastle Incident. * Constantine was originally a character in DC's Vertigo imprint and not considered a part of the mainstream continuity (although his history with Zatanna was still canon). This changed during the New 52 event when the character's universe was folded into the main one. Prior to this, Constantine was physically older (and was in fact one of the few comic book characters to demonstrate realtime aging) and was much weaker, usually avoiding (or losing) fights. * In the original Vertigo comics, Constantine was implied to be bisexual, or at least bi-curious. Category:Superheroes Category:Images of characters Category:Justice league members Category:Characters Category:Males